Something's Up
by Gorgoninator
Summary: Remus has a cold and a desire to hide it. Nothing gets by Sirius Black though, at least not where Remus is concerned.


Remus was acting strange. Nobody else seemed to notice, but it was definitely true.

In potions, he didn't cut his shrivelfig into neat, paper-thin slivers like he usually did. Sirius noticed because he always noticed how Remus cut his shrivelfig. When he brought it up to James though, how he had accidentally cubed it today instead of slicing it, he just got laughed at and told to take it easy on the stalking.

And then in transfiguration, Remus was on the wrong page in the reading. Remus was always on the right page, because he always followed along with the lesson. Transfiguration wasn't his best subject. Not that he wasn't good at it, Remus was good at everything. He just wasn't good at it the same way he was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had to actually study and stuff, so he was always on the right page for the reading. Sirius was sitting next to James in that class too, but when he turned to say something about it and James shot him a "this had better be good" look, he decided not to bring it up.

Remus didn't eat anything at lunch. Sirius asked Peter where in the moon cycle they were—even though he knew the full moon wasn't for fourteen days—just to be sure he wasn't missing something.

Nothing strange happened in herbology until James leaned over and told him that he'd thought he'd seen Remus sneeze. Sirius thought he was joking, but he also thought he'd better keep an eye out to be sure. Maybe Remus was allergic to dittany.

The real kicker was that evening though, when Sirius suggested they all play quidditch. Remus didn't play on the house team, so he usually jumped at the opportunity to play. Tonight though he said he was rather tired and that he thought he'd skip out, even though there were still at least two hours before the sun went down. Sirius shot a significant look at James, who was too busy trying to do a corkscrew without falling off his broom to notice. He threw the quaffle at him and said he thought he'd turn in too, and that James and Peter had better go ahead and play without him. Peter asked him how they were supposed to play with only two people, but James just stopped his spin upside down and winked at him before turning to Peter and insisting that they'd find a way.

All of Sirius' worst fears were realized when he stepped into the dormitory and saw Remus lying in his bed with a box of tissues. If only he'd been paying more attention during herbology he thought. That was when Prongs had seen him sneeze, but he'd missed it because he was too busy focusing on his own tray. Remus looked up at him as he entered. There was a tissue sticking out of one of his nostrils.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey." Sirius announced from the center of the room. Remus was giving him an incredulous look back, but he wasn't sure why.

"Sirius, I spend enough time with Madam Pomfrey already. I just want to rest for a little while." Remus pulled his comforter up higher. Did that mean he was cold? Was he running a fever?

"You're sick Moony, you're running a fever." Sirius rushed over to Remus' bedside. "You have to go to the hospital wing."

"I am not running a fever, it's just a little cold."

"Yeah, they call it a cold because you feel cold when you have a fever." Sirius tried to put his hand on his forehead, but it got swatted away.

"No Sirius," Remus was crossing his arms defensively, "they call it a cold because people get them from being outside in the cold."

"That's ridiculous Moony. It isn't cold outside. It is cold in here though, are you cold? You look cold." Sirius turned around to his own bed and began to rip the comforter off.

"Pads," Remus started, "stop doing that. I'm fine I'm not cold." But it was too late, Remus was being swallowed by a second comforter. Sirius was looking at him expectantly.

"What else do you need?" Sirius needled, hovering.

"Some peace and quiet." Remus mumbled, burrowing under his blankets.

"Do you want me to tell James and Peter and the others to sleep in the common room?"

"No!"

"Just tell me what you need."

"Fine." Remus threw his hands up. "I need some pepperup potion. You'll have to steal it from the hospital wing."

"Done." Sirius adjusted Remus' blanket before leaving to complete his task, and right as he was walking out the door, he saw Remus do one last strange thing.

He smiled.


End file.
